In message , Rusty Hinge
2 writes
The message
from Stewart Robert Hinsley contains these words:

Hollyhocks are annuals, biennials or short-lived perennials.

From around 1944 until we left the house in 1950 there were several
hollyhock plants beside our porch. Plants, not a series of them. They
same colours in the same spots.

Six years probably still counts as short-lived, but it's not bad for a
hollyhock in my experience. (OTOH, the Hollyhock Border at Powis Castle
has been there a few years, and I suspect that the turnover of plants
there is fairly low.) Then again, IIRC, you've said that Malva
sylvestris is rather more perennial in your neck of the woods than mine.

/snip/

I haven't succeeded in growing *any* hollyhocks in heavy, wet, clay,
including non-Ficifolia types.

I have offered Ollie's Mum some seeds from a hollyhock which I found
growing in heavy Norfolk soil - you could almost make pots with it.


I suspect that my problem may be as much wet as clay. But I've done
better growing them in pots, or in the allotment (which is still a bit
wet (in winter) and heavy, but nowhere as bad as my garden).
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley